The Pancho Villa Expedition, now known officially in the United States as the Mexican Expedition but originally referred to as the "Punitive Expedition, US Army," was a military operation conducted by the United States Army against the paramilitary forces of Mexican revolutionary Francisco "Pancho" Villa from March 14, 1916, to February 7, 1917, during the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920.
The expedition was launched in retaliation for Villa's attack on the town of Columbus, New Mexico, an incident of the larger Mexican Border War. The declared objective of the expedition by the administration of US President Woodrow Wilson was the capture of Villa.Yockelson, Mitchell. "The United States Armed Forces and the Mexican Punitive Expedition: Part 1" . Prologue Magazine, Fall 1997, Vol. 29, No. 3. Retrieved March 5, 2015. Despite locating and defeating the main body of Villa's command who were responsible for the Columbus raid, US forces were unable to achieve Wilson's stated main objective of preventing Villa's escape.
The active search for Villa ended after a month in the field when troops sent by Venustiano Carranza, the head of the Constitutionalist faction of the revolution and then head of the Mexican government, resisted the US incursion. The Constitutionalist forces used arms at the town of Parral to resist passage of a US Army column. The US mission was changed to prevent further attacks on it by Mexican troops and to plan for the possibility of war.Cyrulik, John M. (2003). A Strategic Examination of the Punitive Expedition Into Mexico, 1916–1917, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, pp. 45, 60. When war was averted diplomatically, the expedition remained in Mexico until February 1917 to encourage Carranza's government to pursue Villa and prevent further raids across the border.
Background
Trouble between the United States and Pancho Villa had been growing since October 1915, when the United States government officially recognized Villa's rival and former ally Venustiano Carranza as head of the government of Mexico. The US also provided rail transportation through the United States, from Eagle Pass, Texas, to Douglas, Arizona, to move more than 5,000 Carrancista forces to fight Villa at the Battle of Agua Prieta; Villa's seasoned División del Norte was smashed."Francisco (Pancho) Villa," in Encyclopedia of Mexico. vol. 2, p. 1531. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn 1997. Feeling betrayed, Villa began attacking US nationals and their property in northern Mexico.Finley, James P., director and editor (1993). "Buffalo Soldiers at Huachuca: Military Events in the American Southwest from 1910–1916" , Huachuca Illustrated: A Magazine of the Fort Huachuca Museum Volume 1, pp. 72–73 On November 26, 1915, Villa sent a force to attack the city of Nogales and in the course of the ensuing battle, engaged with American forces before withdrawing.
On January 11, 1916, sixteen American employees of the American Smelting and Refining Company were removed from a train near Santa Isabel, Chihuahua, and summarily stripped and executed. Brigadier General John J. Pershing, commanding the district headquartered at Fort Bliss, Texas, received information that Villa with a new force was on the border and about to make an attack that would force the United States to intervene, embarrassing the Carranza government.Katz asserts that putting the Carranza government into a no-win dilemma by forcing the United States to militarily intervene in Mexico was Villa's primary motivation for both Columbus and all the "outrages" preceding it. (Katz, 1978) Raids were so commonplace, however, that the rumor was not seen as credible. Local lore in Columbus holds that the attack may have been caused by a merchant in Columbus who supplied Villa with arms and ammunition. Villa is said to have paid several thousand dollars in cash for the weapons, but the merchant refused to deliver them unless he was paid in gold, giving "cause" for the raid.de Quesada, Alejandro (2012). The Hunt for Pancho Villa: The Columbus Raid and Pershing's Punitive Expedition 1916–17, Osprey Publishing, , p. 21
At about 4:00 am on March 9, 1916, Villa's troops attacked Columbus, New Mexico, and Camp Furlong, the US Army post there, where four troops (about 240 soldiers) of the 13th Cavalry Regiment had been stationed since September 1912. The raiders burned the town, stole horses and mules, and seized machine guns, ammunition, and merchandise before fleeing back to Mexico. Ten civilians and eight soldiers were killed in the attack, and two civilians and six soldiers wounded.
Villa's soldiers had suffered considerable losses, with at least 67 dead and dozens more wounded. Many of the casualties were inflicted when the machine gun troop of the 13th Cavalry led by 2nd Lt. John P. Lucas set up its light machine guns under fire along the north boundary of Camp Furlong, firing over 5,000 rounds apiece by the glow of burning buildings to illuminate targets.Tompkins, Col. Frank (1934, 1996). Chasing Villa: The Last Campaign of the U.S. Cavalry, High-Lonesome Books, Silver City, New Mexico. , pp. 50–52Lucas fought the entire 90-minute action bare-footed, injuring the soles of his feet. (Tompkins, 51) About 13 of Villa's wounded later died of their wounds, and five wounded Villistas taken prisoner by the Americans were tried and hanged for murder.
The next day, acting on the recommendations of the commanders of his cavalry regiments, Southern Department commanding general Frederick Funston recommended an immediate pursuit in force into Mexico. US President Woodrow Wilson concurred, designating Pershing to command the force and releasing a statement to the press:
An adequate force will be sent at once in pursuit of Villa with the single object of capturing him and putting a stop to his forays. This can and will be done in entirely friendly aid to the constituted authorities in Mexico and with scrupulous respect for the sovereignty of that Republic.Tompkins, p. 70
Expedition Pursuit phase
Pershing assembled an expeditionary force consisting primarily of cavalry and horse artillery, the cavalry units being armed with M1909 machine guns, M1903 Springfield rifles, and M1911 semi-automatic pistols. On March 15, 1916, organized into a provisional division of three brigades (four regiments of cavalry,Of the four cavalry regiments, only the 11th was at full strength. The 7th and 13th had just seven of their 12 rifle troops and the 10th only ten. The five-day journey by train from Georgia so debilitated the mounts of the 11th Cavalry (ten died on the march from Columbus to Dublán) that it formed two provisional squadrons using selected horses to conduct field operations. two of infantry, and 6,600 men), the expedition crossed the border into Mexico to search for Villa, marching in two columns from Columbus and Culberson's Ranch.The eastern column left Columbus as originally planned at midday of March 15. In recognition of its fight at Columbus, the 13th Cavalry was specified to lead the column and crossed the border ceremonially (regimental standard first) just after noon. Pershing was delayed reaching the western column at Culberson's, which did not march until after midnight March 16. (Tompkins, 74–77)
The 2nd Provisional Cavalry Brigade reached Colonia Dublán after dark on March 17, where Pershing established the main base of operations for the campaign. The 1st Aero Squadron, included in the expedition for liaison duties and aerial reconnaissance on the orders of United States Secretary of War Newton D. Baker, departed San Antonio, Texas, on March 13 by rail with eight Curtiss JN3 airplanes and flew the first aerial reconnaissance of the area from Columbus on March 16, the day after it arrived. The entire squadron flew to the advanced camp at Colonia Dublán on March 19–20, losing two aircraft in the process.The entire squadron was forced by darkness to land before reaching Colonia Dublán. One of the Jennies came down in the desert south of Casas Grandes and was so severely vandalized that only the engine could be salvaged. The second arrived the next morning but crashed in a cross-wind while landing.
Pershing immediately sent the 7th Cavalry (seven troops in two squadrons) south just after midnight on March 18 to begin the pursuit, followed by the 10th Cavalry moving by rail two days later.Finley, p. 96 From March 20 to March 30, as the 11th Cavalry arrived in Columbus by train from Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, and then forced marched into Mexico, Pershing dispatched four additional "flying columns" through the mountainous territory into the gaps between the original three columns.Urwin, Gregory J. W. (1983). The United States Cavalry: An Illustrated History, 1776–1944. University of Oklahoma Press, , p. 177The four columns were by marching dates: (March 20) Major Elmer Lindsley with 2nd Squadron and Troop L, 13th Cavalry; (March 21) Major Frank Tompkins with Troops K, M and Machine Gun Troop, 13th, and Troops I and K, 10th Cavalry; (March 24), Major Robert Howze with the 1st Provisional Squadron, 11th Cavalry, and (March 30) Col. H. T. Allen and 2nd Provisional Squadron, 11th Cavalry. Persistent winter weather through early April, particularly bitterly cold nights at high altitude, made both pursuit and logistics more difficult. An additional regiment of cavalry and two of infantry were added to the expedition in late April,The 5th Cavalry and the 17th and 24th Infantry Regiments. The infantry was used as "line of communication" troops to protect the logistical network. bringing its total size to 4,800 men. Ultimately more than 10,000 men—virtually every available unit of the Regular Army and additional National Guard troops—were committed to the expedition either in Mexico or its supporting units at Columbus.
Because of disputes with the Carranza administration over the use of the Mexico North Western Railway to supply Pershing's troops, the United States Army employed trucks to convoy supplies to the encampment where the Signal Corps also set up wireless telegraph service from the border to Pershing's headquarters. This was the first use of truck convoys in a US military operation and provided useful experience for World War I.The US Army ordered substantial numbers of four-wheel drive Jeffery Quad and all-wheel drive FWD Model B trucks for the expedition; The Army's order of 147 Four Wheel Drive Model B trucks allegedly saved the FWD company from bankruptcy. The GMC Model 15 3/4-ton truck was also being introduced at the time. During this phase of the campaign Pershing maintained a small mobile headquarters of 30 men using a Dodge touring car for personal transportation, to keep abreast of the moving columns and control their movements, employing aircraft of the 1st Aero Squadron as messengers. His headquarters advanced as far as the 1st Aero Squadron's field at Satevó, southeast of the city of Chihuahua, before falling back at the end of April.Pershing report, October 1916, p. 20
Villa had a six-day head start on the pursuit, all but ensuring that his forces would successfully break up into smaller bands and he would be able to hide in the trackless mountains. Nevertheless, he was nearly caught by the forced marches of the pursuing cavalry columns when he recklessly paused in his retreat to attack a Carrancista garrison. The Battle of Guerrero was fought on March 29, 1916, after a 55-mile night march through the snowy Sierra Madre by Colonel George A. Dodd and 370 men of the 7th Cavalry. 360 Villistas had remained in Guerrero celebrating the victory won over the Carrancista garrisonVilla himself was shot in the lower leg during the earlier attack by a captured Carrancista impressed into service. The wound left him severely hobbled for months, so that when he reached Santa Cruz de Herrera in the far south of Chihuahua, he went into hiding there until the end of May. and 160 more were in the next valley in nearby San Ysidro.